Any Stellar Saints Being Formed in the Catholic Church Today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PilgrimMichelangelo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The mark of a true Saint is that they absolutely do not believe that they have claim to that title. Humility is the stuff of which Saints are made.

In one case, during Vatican I, James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore remarked about Anthony Claret as he was observed walking in the vicinity: “There goes a true Saint”
And, he was.

And indeed, many Saints are recognizable for the life they live - but the vast majority work and pray in obscurity.
 
I would not be surprised if there are saints living quietly and currently unknown among those persecuted in places like the Middle East and China.
 
Last edited:
An example who would deny that fact: Fr. Robert Spitzer. Have a brief look at his accomplishments on behalf of Christ. He can rattle off Fr. Georges Lemaître’s “Big Bang” theory, the scientific evidence in favor of the enigmatic Shroud of Turin, is a doctor or master in several disciplines related to faith. All of this while being functionally blind.

 
There are many people with alleged “gifts” in the Latin church here and there.

Some of them very visible, some of them relatively unknown. I have no doubt that some of them are probably completely unknown to anyone other than to their spiritual directors.

I am highly suspicious of those who are very visible and claiming to communicate messages or warnings or whatever, running their own websites etc. I tend to think the greatest saints are the ones who self-promote the least. Also, a lot of the ones who are the most public often seem to be pushing a particular agenda, which is to me very suspect.
 
Last edited:
I have wondered about this too. Is there someone with the stature of Padre Pio or Saint Teresa of Avila alive at this moment? There may be–and we will hear about them, perhaps only in time later on. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is so.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I tend to think the greatest saints are the ones who self-promote the least. Also, a lot of the ones who are the most public often seem to be pushing a particular agenda, which is to me very suspect.
Click to expand...
This is hardly a matter of the self-promotion of living Saints…
Good grief!
This is about those, like Padre Pio, whose Light shines so bright that it cannot be hidden, you see… It is not about the fallen masters of deceit who promote themselves… Padre Pio, you see, was well known while he was alive, as are many whom God illuminates…

And the question is:
Are there any of Padre Pio’s stature now visible in the Roman Catholic Church?

This is not a thread, if I understand the OP correctly, about what you are calling "alleged ‘gifts’ "… It is instead about the visible existence of living Saints in the Roman Catholic Church…

I can say that in the EOC, we have had two in the last 70 years in the US, and both of them were formed outside the US, one in Russia, and one in Greece/Mt Athos… None so far indigenous to North America… There are indigenous Saints, but none visible, at least none of the stature of these two giants or of Padre Pio…

geo
 
Last edited:
George720 said:
This is not a thread, if I understand the OP correctly, about what you are calling "alleged ‘gifts’ "… It is instead about the visible existence of living Saints in the Roman Catholic Church…
Click to expand...
Nailed it. Exactly what I was trying to ask. Thank you.
 
George720 said:
There are indigenous Saints, but none visible, at least none of the stature of these two giants or of Padre Pio…
Click to expand...
How do you know what “stature” the saints have?
Padre Pio became known far and wide because the Lord willed that he become known. Other people spread the word about him. He certainly didn’t do anything himself to make himself known, and his superiors tried to send him to out-of-the-way places because they found him alarming.

But there could just as well be a very great saint somewhere that God has chosen to let be very obscure, for God’s own reasons. It may be that people really don’t know anything about this saint until their death, or long after their death.

Padre Pio himself held in high esteem a few holy mystics who are not yet saints and not even very well known outside their local areas for one reason or another. He would say to people who visited him from these holy people’s countries, “Why are you coming all the way here to see me when you have (holy person X) right near your home?”

I don’t think we can ever know the answer to the OP’s question fully. If one is seeking a holy elder to learn from, then that’s one thing, but seeking a great saintly person on the stature of (insert saint’s name here) makes me uncomfortable, and I cannot imagine the holy person not feeling uncomfortable about being regarded in that way also.

Muting this thread now as it seems like posters are taking my comments wrong to some degree, good luck in your search for whatever “holy” people you want to find but I don’t really wish to support that kind of thinking.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
How do you know what “stature” the saints have?
Click to expand...
Your next sentence is the answer:
Tis_Bearself said:
Padre Pio became known far and wide
because the Lord willed that he become known.
Click to expand...
This is exactly the same reason that St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco and Elder Ephraim of Arizona became known… Neither are native sons of the US…

I think God raises up certain Saints in each generation, and for my part, I am looking for North American “native sons” to be similarly raised up here, IF He will be raising any up from here… I think the OP might have been asking if any comparable to Padre Pio have been similarly raised up in the Roman Catholic Church after his passing from this earth… I personally know an elderly and pious woman whom I love, who asks for Padre Pio’s intercessions daily…

Please forgive me if I have taken your comments wrong to some degree…

geo
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
Padre Pio himself held in high esteem a few holy mystics who are not yet saints and not even very well known outside their local areas for one reason or another. He would say to people who visited him from these holy people’s countries, “Why are you coming all the way here to see me when you have (holy person X) right near your home?”
Click to expand...
Exactly, and one of them was don Dolindo Ruotolo. I read in biography in one of don Dolindo’s work (“Jesus, You take over” prayer) that some people came to st. Padre Pio from Naples and he said to them “Why are you coming here when you have don Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he is saint.” (Citing from that book in Croatian.)
 
Last edited:
Inbonum said:
I read in biography in one of don Dolindo’s work (“Jesus, You take over” prayer) that some people came to st. Padre Pio from Naples and he said to them “Why are you coming here when you have don Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he is saint.” (Citing from that book in Croatian.)
Click to expand...
Well, when Padre Pio’s dad was about to die, he declined to give his confession, so Padre Pio bargained with him, and said: “Father, look - I will give you your confession one sin at a time, and all you need to do is nod your affirmation, and when we are finished, I will give you Absolution…” They agreed and did it, and he died soon after… This is the Gift of Prophetic Insight that God had bestowed on Padre Pio… He could and did do that with anybody…

So the question is, are there any here who know of a living RomanCatholic Saint who has this particular Gift? My first parish Priest, when he went to confession, just sat down, was told his sins, was told what to do about them, was mentally “rearranged” by his Elder, was given Absolution, and was dismissed… I observed him first hand, leaving to see the Elder all stressed and returning serene with no issues…

Now this kind of Elder does not commonly grow on low hanging fruit trees… And Padre Pio was one of these, and he has still living Spiritual children… Are there any living and God-bearing successors of his caliber in the Roman Catholic Church?

If there are any, I would have to opine, from the responses here, that they have very successfully managed to hide themselves thoroughly from Catholic eyes… All I know is that we desperately NEED Saints…

Bishop Fulton J Sheen anyone??

geo
 
Last edited:
George720 said:
Are there any living and God-bearing successors of his caliber in the Roman Catholic Church?

If there are any, I would have to opine, from the responses here, that they have very successfully managed to hide themselves thoroughly from Catholic eyes… All I know is that we desperately NEED Saints…

Bishop Fulton J Sheen anyone??
Click to expand...
Well if you look for living saints I don’t know any of them. We cannot know the heart of person and it is sometimes dangerous to call someone saint while person is still alive because we are humans who can be wrong, very wrong. We can see people who are devoted/sanctified but saint no until death and Church’s word about them. Also supernatural gifts aren’t considered in someone’s canonisation as sign of sanctity. They’re not measure. God gives gifts to good and less good people so… They are His gifts. There were many saints who didn’t have supernatural gifts, who were “too usual”. Gifts aren’t requirement to become saint.
Catholic Church have hundreds and hundreds canonised saints so why focus on living people? Sometimes we will become too attached to person because of their gifts and forget God.
I am not close to bl. F.J.Sheen in my prayers but I saw some of his TV speeches and it was funny. His way of evangelisation is great.

Just my personal opinion.
 
This raises the question as to how quickly after someone’s death should someone be beatified or canonised? Is anything less than 10 years too soon? Would at least 20 or 30 years be more appropriate to give enough time to accumulate the facts of a person’s life? Even in the case of St. Padre Pio it was 34 years.
 
Last edited:
@Krisdun I think now it is minimum 5 years to pass after someones death.
For example st. John Paul II. died in 2005, beatified in 2011, canonised 2014, it is fast…
But saint Peter of Verona is fastest canonised saint. Died in 1252.,canonised 1253. by pope Innocent IV.
 
Last edited:
Stage I – Examining the Life of a Candidate for Sainthood
Phase 1: Diocesan or Eparchial Level
Click to expand...
Five years must pass from the time of a candidate’s death before a cause may begin. This is to allow greater balance and objectivity in evaluating the case and to let the emotions of the moment dissipate. The pope can dispense from this waiting period.
The bishop of the diocese or eparchy in which the person died is responsible for beginning the investigation. The petitioner (who for example can be the diocese/eparchy, bishop, religious order or association of the faithful) asks the bishop through a person known as the postulator to open the investigation.
The bishop then begins a series of consultations with the episcopal conference, the faithful of his diocese or eparchy and the Holy See. Once these consultations are done and he has received the ‘nihil obstat’ of the Holy See, he forms a diocesan or eparchial tribunal. The tribunal will investigate the martyrdom or how the candidate lived a life of heroic virtues, that is, the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, and others specific to his or her state in life. Witnesses will be called and documents written by and about the candidate must be gathered and examined.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Phase II: Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Once the diocesan or eparchial investigation is finished, the documentation is sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The postulator for this phase, residing in Rome, under the direction of a member of the Congregation’s staff called a relator prepares the ‘Positio,’ or summary of the documentary evidence from the diocesan or eparchial phase in order to prove the heroic exercise of virtue or the martyrdom.
Click to expand...
The ‘Positio’ undergoes an examination by nine theologians who vote on whether or not the candidate lived a heroic life or suffered martyrdom. If the majority of the theologians are in favor, the cause is passed on for examination by cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation. If their judgment is favorable, the prefect of the Congregation presents the results of the entire course of the cause to the pope, who gives his approval and authorizes the Congregation to draft a decree declaring one Venerable if they have lived a virtuous life or a Blessed if they have been martyred.
Click to expand...

Stage II – Beatification​

Click to expand...
For the beatification of a Venerable, a miracle attributed to his intercession, verified after his death, is necessary. The required miracle must be proven through the appropriate canonical investigation, following a procedure analogous to that for heroic virtues. This investigation too is concluded with the appropriate decree. Once the decree on the miracle is promulgated the pope grants the beatification, which is the concession of limited public veneration – usually only in the diocese, eparchy, region, or religious community in which the Blessed lived. With beatification the candidate receives the titled of Blessed. For a martyr, no miracle is required. Thus when the pope approves the positio declaring that the person was a martyred for the faith, the title Blessed is granted to the martyr at that time.
Click to expand...

Stage III – Canonization​

Click to expand...
For canonization another miracle is needed for both Blessed martyrs and Blesseds who lived a virtuous life, attributed to the intercession of the Blessed and having occurred after his or her beatification. The methods for affirming the miracle are the same as those followed for beatification. Canonization allows for the public veneration of the Saint by the Universal Church. With canonization, the Blessed acquires the title of Saint
Click to expand...
http://www.usccb.org/about/public-affairs/backgrounders/saints-backgrounder.cfm
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top